Reuben and I barely napped at so we ventured out on a walk at 5:30 am, 8 pm the previous night in the US. We’re nine and a half hours ahead here. After passing through the guarded gate, we chose to go left knowing there was a busy area called Connaught Place nearby. Delhi immediately jumps on you. The heat is like a sweater with a bigger sweater over it. Even in the early morning the streets are chaos with people, bikes, cars, motocycles, auto-rickshaws, dogs. The list goes on. The beggars won’t leave you no matter what you say. I would be broke early if I obliged. Plus, you have to be careful because giving to one can draw a crowd.
There are people everywhere! Sleeping on mounds of dirt in the construction sites, parks, sidewalks, trees, anywhere. But we’re almost in the center of the city and there were also a few middle-class morning joggers. A boy passed with a shirt that read “Build Your Empire”. The saris really are beautiful. The traditional dress pops all over the city in dozens of bright colors like people fireworks. They stream by as the rear seat passengers of motocycles and scooters. Sometimes there are a few kids tacked to the gas tank as well.
We got lost but ended up in a wide-open area and in the distance noticed India Gate, a famous landmark. Some interesting building stood in the opposite direction so we headed towards it. We also had to keep in mind our 7:30 am team meeting. We chose wisely because the something interesting was the President’s home, similar to the White house. It’s a huge complex that rests higher than the surrounding area. It’s where an Indian Rocky would have run. There were very little people around at this hour. In fact, we were the only foreigners in the area. We were told, “Sir. No entry.” twice and kept poking around where we could.
A small crew and beautiful Indian woman were shooting some movie, or more likely a video of some sort. They bounced the morning light with a reflector on her and a male actor. Perhaps it was a soap opera. While they waited for some guards to pass, I approached and asked if I could take a picture. Loving the limelight, she smiled and said yes, then immediately realized she should ask her director first and turned to him. The men were all just sternly staring at me.
We returned to the hotel breakfast: porridge, white toast, jam, butter, traditional idli and sanbar, eggs, tea with steamed milk. All together, a good meal to get us going. We had a meeting with the other players in the project at the Hyatt Regency at 10 am. After a 15 minute taxi ride, which is inarguably the arch nemesis to an ADD cure, we arrived at the front gate to a palace. Let the spoiling begin. The gauntlet of car bomb mirrors and metal detectors put us in 5-star luxury land. Tracstar Cobam keeps their India office HQ on the 3rd floor with their own staff and business center. In the conference room we met the India contingent. Phil and Alex showed them the video I made of our Bermuda trip. They actually applauded at the end and then I woke up.
Was lunch going to be some local delicious Indian food after the meeting? No way, Sanjay. We dine at the glorious Hyatt buffet today. All of the salad, hot, cold, nan, traditional Indian, desert, and smoothie stations were tended to accordingly and we feasted to kick off the hard work ahead. Darin A. told us we also get to use the pool when some cool-off downtime calls. With the heat that may be impossible, but this hotel may be hiring porters to carry down ice from the Himalayas to chill the water.
Word on the street was that Connaught Place is a popular area. For dinner, we hit a small, local diner next to the McDonald’s for dosas and black currant ice-cream desert. Both were tasty and better yet, no one keeled over with any stomach pain.
JJ: Here’s 20 Rupees, just give me five (fare is 11.80).
He takes my money and holds it.
Rick Driver: Ok, fine sir.
JJ: No, I need change, 5 rupees.
Rick Driver: It’s fine sir (head bobble).
JJ: Look I’m giving you a tip, even. I gave you two ten’s!
Rick Driver: It’s fine sir.
JJ: No give me change. Give me change, I give you tip.
Crowd gathers, and yells a bunch of things at the driver. He starts to give me a ten but changes his mind.
I was arguing the 30 cents for fun and leave. They will always say they don’t have change.
Time to rest because tomorrow is a big day at Essel Shyam, the Indian teleport that is giving us the bandwith for the transmission.
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// ]]>
Let's see some pics with this blog!
ReplyDeleteNext time, go to McDonald’s. What kind of American are you?
ReplyDelete